Ever since I was young I've had a "thing" about religion and spirituality. Although I often found myself disagreeing with various religious beliefs, or with ideas being presented as supposedly representative of various religions, I still had respect for the underlying concepts. Sometimes, I found that people would create religions not to help others, but to help themselves—generally to power, money, and/or sex. I didn't like what they were doing. I felt they were harming others by mocking religions or spiritual paths. I still feel this way. And that brings me to Xmas. When I was old enough to understand that Xmas was an abbreviation for Christmas, I felt there was something wrong

Respect those who seek the truth. Be wary of those who claim to have found it. —Mark Twain One of the challenges of occultism and magickal practice is the challenge of achieving goals. One purpose of magick is personal spiritual evolution. At the same time, one of the things I like to say is, "It's hard to be spiritual when you're wondering where your next meal will come from." If Western society were more like that of India, where mystics are often supported by the gifts of those who recognize a person seeking ultimate truth, spiritual development might be the only focus of magick. But since Western society is not like that, using magick to obtain things on the physical plane,

Thank You, S.F. Bay! First, I would like to thank everyone who showed up for my workshops at Ancient Ways in Oakland, CA, this last weekend. I'd also like to thank shop owner Glenn Turner for her hospitality and friendship, as well as nods to Marilee, Michael, and everyone else at the shop. If you're in the S.F. bay area, I would encourage you to visit the shop, if only to say "Hello." I'd also like to thank the couple who came in all the way from San Jose on their "date night" to attend a workshop. And speaking of San Jose, the 18th annual PantheaCon convention, run by Glenn and a group of wonderful, dedicated workers and volunteers, is being held February 17–20, 2012. It's one of the

When I first started an in-depth study of occultism, I tried to read everything that was available. I quickly realized that the available books generally fell into two large categories, books that were mostly ridiculous inventions by their authors to take advantage of people interested in occult topics and books that were older material or about older material, perhaps with modern commentary. After a period of reading everything, it became fairly easy to separate the good from the bad, the serious from the ridiculous, the wheat from the chaff. And then came Kenneth Grant's first book, The Magical Revival. Original cover of first edition in my collection. I read this book not knowing what